Platelet serotonin decrease in alcoholic patients

Abstract

This study investigated the platelet 5-HT levels and their changes according to different physiological and pathological factors in 30 young alcoholic patients (16 alcohol abusers and 14 alcohol-dependent subjects) and 26 healthy controls. Platelet 5-HT levels were determined by a fluorescent-ortho-phthalaldehyde assay. The mean platelet 5-HT levels obtained in patients during withdrawal and after 2 weeks of abstinence were significantly lower than in controls. Presence of positive history of impulse control disorders (ICD) influenced the mean platelet 5-HT levels in patients. These preliminary results suggest that the platelet 5-HT level decrease observed in alcohol-dependent patients mostly free from ICD and in alcohol abusers mostly affected by ICD might result from comparable neurobiological mechanisms. However, the age of onset of alcohol dependence might depend on psychological functioning features.

Platelet serotonin concentration in alcoholic subjects

“…This reduction of platelet 5-HT content is in line with previous data (Bailly et al, 1990;Schmidt et al, 1997). In contrast, no significant differences in platelet 5-HT content between alcoholic and control subjects were detected (Szalay et al, 2001), showing only reduced platelet 5-HT content in patients with alcohol-induced liver cirrhosis.…”

“…during withdrawal. It seems that platelet 5-HT concentration is reduced in alcoholics regardless of the time-period after alcohol intoxication, or regardless of the acute alcohol consumption, since platelet 5-HT levels were decreased in acutely-intoxicated alcoholics (Schmidt et al, 1997), in alcoholics during withdrawal (present study, Bailly et al, 1990Bailly et al, , 1993 or in alcoholics after 2 weeks of abstinence (Bailly et al, 1993).…”

“…This is especially important since most studies measured platelet 5-HT content in alcoholics who were not divided into male and female subjects (Schmidt et al, 1997), or failed to detect any significant sex-related differences in platelet 5-HT content (Bailly et al, 1990;. This difference might be due to the small number (N = 9) of female alcoholics in the study of Bailly et al (1990), however the same group (Bailly et al, 1993) failed to detect sex-related differences in platelet 5-HT levels in the much bigger groups of alcoholic patients. Since sex differences in some peripheral serotonergic measures (5-HT transporter gene, whole blood 5-HT level, and platelet 5-HT binding) were detected in families with alcoholism (Stoltenberg et al, 2002), in our study we divided alcoholic subjects by gender.…”

Platelet Serotonin and Plasma Tryptophan in Depressed Patients: Effect of Drug Treatment and Clinical Outcome

“…Following the discovery that blood platelets accumu late serotonin (about 99% of total blood serotonin [5-HT] levels) due to their powerful uptake and storage mech anisms similar to those of central neurons (Stahl 1977), a large number of studies have examined the serotonin function of the blood platelet in various pathological conditions such as autism (Cook 1990), alcoholism (Bailly et al 1990), and affective disorders (Quintana 1992). Clinical results from these different studies have anxiety scores.…”

Stress Hormone Dysregulation at Rest and After Serotonergic Stimulation Among Alcohol‐Dependent Men With Extended Abstinence and Controls

“…People who are chronically alcohol-dependent are usually reported to have lower amounts of various 5-HT precursors (e.g., tryptophan) and metabolites (e.g., 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid) in urine, plasma, and cerebrospinal fluid than non-alcoholdependent controls Borg et al, 1985;Buydens-Branchey et al, 1989); however, not all studies agree (Geracioti et al, 1994;Geracioti et al, 1997). Similarly, most studies using platelets from alcoholdependent individuals and measuring either 5-HT levels (Bailly et al, 1990) or various measures of 5-HT uptake (i.e., imipramine binding, V max , K m ) suggest decreased 5-HT turnover (Boismare et al, 1987;Javors et al, 1987). Finally, although not directly related to alcohol dependence per se, 5-HT mechanisms seem to play a role in ethanol preference and consumption (McBride and Li, 1998), such that drugs that enhance overall CNS 5-HT activity seem to reduce alcohol intake.…”